Zenodo, 2018
Zenodo, 2018
Oxford University Press (OUP), Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1(483), p. 614-623, 2018
The quiescent and bursty radio emission observed in about 10% of Ultra-Cool Dwarfs (UCDs; spectral class > M7) indicates the presence of strong, persistent magnetic fields. Radio frequency observations have been key to characterising the radio emission mechanisms as well as the magnetospheric structure for some radio-loud UCDs. However, important questions remain unanswered, including the generation, structure, and evolution of UCD magnetic fields; and how the UCD magnetosphere is populated with non-thermal electrons responsible for the radio emission. The majority of studies of UCDs at radio frequencies have been in the 4-8 GHz band. Hence the nature of UCD radio emission at low frequencies (< 1.4 GHz) remains relatively unexplored, and could provide key insights into these questions. In this talk, I will present the results of GMRT observations of 9 UCDs taken at ~610 and 1300 MHz. These are the first observations of UCDs in this frequency range to be published in the literature. Using these observations, we are able to constrain the shape of the spectral energy distribution for the detected UCDs, LSPM J1314+1320 and 2MASS J0746+20. We are also able to determine if there is a low-frequency counterpart to the bursty and pulsed radio emission observed at higher radio frequencies. These results provide new insights into the physical conditions in UCD magnetospheres.